Championville

So far, I have managed to survive another holiday season. I suppose I shouldn’t talk too early…there is still New Year’s coming up. Of course, it is normally just the mad holiday shopping (shoppers) that get to me.

Our Christmas celebration was very nice this year. Mike and I, along with a few of other mutual friends, went over to our friend Rick’s place on Christmas Eve and celebrated with an East Coast Italian tradition…namely a seafood feast. Rick prepared 7 different fish dishes, along with some veggie dishes for those that don’t do fish. We ate for hours. Literally. The feast began at 6PM and we finished with the cookies at midnight. A most welcome way to celebrate with friends.

Christmas Day itself we went over for dinner at another friend’s place. This was a smaller affair, just four of us total. Just had a relaxing time with some (more) good food. As usual when we visit Martin we had to keep things a bit shorter than what we might do otherwise becuase the cats finally ended up getting to Mike. Once his allergies start to kick in it’s time to call it a day.

Luckily, when that point was getting close we all decided to wander over to the Metreon for a movie. Unfortunately, it turns out, we picked The Producers. Not that it was a bad movie. In truth, it was a funny movie…in a Mel Brooks kind of way. Totally over the top. Totally tasteless at times. Not to mention Nathan Lane was in it.

The problem, you see, was with our friend Martin. He’s German. As in originally from Germany. Not really the best idea to go see a movie ‘about’ Hitler and the war with him. Understandably, the whole thing is still a bit of a touchy subject.

Wishing everybody Peace and Joy this holiday season, however you may (or may not) celebrate it.

Last night was my company Holiday Party. Mike and I were only able to attend part of the festivities since a friend of ours was having his own get together. Probably for the best anyway…after all, there is only so much socializing that can be done with one’s coworkers before madness sets in. Not that I don’t enjoy working with most everybody…but that’s just it, I work with all these people. I see them day after day and very often it is because there is some issue taking place. Gets hard to see them outside work without having the mind lapse back into it’s normal damage control mode.

The second party of the night was highly enjoyable. Ended up socializing with the other folks that were in our performance group, which is a great thing since they are all fantastic people.

This week will probably be a bit slower at work. I just hope it’s not too slow…I’d at least like to have enough going on to stay busy. Nothing worse than having a day where you really don’t have much going on and finding boredom setting in.

Last night was the second and final performance for the winter showcase my salsa group was in. Last night went even better than Friday night. It seemed like we were all out there just having fun instead of being worried about doing something wrong. The energy felt fantastic…and the audience was great. Lots of noise!!

Today is the cast party for the showcase. Sit back and watch a recording of the performances, and just enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.

Then what? We are all prepared for the post-production let down. The feeling of missing something…but not knowing exactly what.

Luckily, the next few weeks will be busy with holiday things, so there will be less time to feel the ‘loss’.

So, last night was the first of two performances for my salsa dance group. Overall, I think it went very well.

Mike and I had had a slight mishap during one of the rehearsals on Thursday night, so going into dress rehearsal yesterday afternoon was a bit nerve racking. Luckily the added pressure of having messed up a step before did not cause any issue. During the actual performance there was one hiccup, but I doubt the audience even noticed.

The hardest part of the day was actually getting into costume…specifically the whole makeup thing. Eyeliner? Mascara? Foundation? Color me clueless. Luckily there were plenty of folks around to help keep me from looking like a Whore Clown.

One more ‘official’ performance to go…plus a ‘guest performance’ at a dance night next month. As far as more lessons…maybe modern dance?

Next Friday and Saturday is the ‘Winter Wonderdance’, the dance showcase my salsa group is perfoming in. I am so ready to get this done with. It’s not that I’m having a bad time or anything. On the contrary, it’s very enjoyable. The urgency is basically two fold.

One, we run through the routine over and over and over and over and… well, you get the idea. I am so ready to just dance the routine ‘for real’.

Secondly, I am getting a bit nervous. I haven’t really performed in front of an audience in a long time. Since elementary school, i think. All other forays into the performing arts were behind the scenes…lighting, sound, etc. Hmm…actually, I did play in a couple of concerts when i was taking guitar lessons. And there were a few piano recitals.

Anyway…I’ll be glad once the showcase is over. Like I said…it’s enjoyable, but I really am ready to dance to something besides the Ran Can Can

On a side note…I think my nipple piercing may be infected. Then again, maybe not. No change in coloration…just more sensitive right now.

Just a quick update before heading off to work. It’s gonna be a day where I drag a bit from lack of sleep…but well worth it. Last night was the Gwen Stefani concert. Luxurious. Cool.

I must say, for not having a Y-Chromosome, Gwen is one sexy person.

Last night Mike and I joined a few friends to see the movie Rent. Certainly, the theatrical version was better…but they did a good job with the film. There is just something lost when a theatrical production is turned into a film. Still worth doing, especially for all the folks that can’t see it on stage.

The movie was a good way to end the day, after having spent the afternoon hunting down the ‘perfect’ pieces of fabric to from which to have our dance costumes made. Ugh. I can now say I hate fabric shopping.

Now that they are officially over, I wonder if Nick needs a place to stay.

If so, I don’t think there would be any problem putting him up for a few days/weeks/years…
This is either a really smart idea or else a really bad one…I can’t decide yet.

A patient and understanding boyfriend

An accepting and loving family

My health

A job I enjoy

Having the freedom to be myself

Having a metablolism that will let me eat all I want today and not worry about it tomorrow

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Chicago Tribune | Vatican banishes gays from seminaries
The Vatican is ordering seminaries to bar candidates for the priesthood who “practice homosexuality,” have “deeply rooted homosexual tendencies” or support “gay culture,” according to a document published Tuesday by Adista, a Catholic news agency in Rome.

I’m not a Catholic, not even a ‘Recovering Catholic’. Still, everytime the Catholic Church comes out with some statement that at it’s heart is based in hate and rejection I am angered. Afterall, I am still impacted…the Churches acceptance and encouragement of prejudice and discrimination sets an example for the lay person. Sends the message that gay people are not worthy of the simple respect and standard rights that everybody else is.

Love thy neighbor…unless they are gay, of course.

*** BlogPhotos/gobletintlrep.jpg NOT FOUND *** On Sunday Mike and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie. The movie was great, although a bit darker than the previous films.
The movie itself may have been great, but the movie going experience as a whole was less than desireable.
We decided to grab something to eat in one of the little restaurants near the theater. I have no idea what the reason was, but all the places seemed to be a big mess. We actually went into one restaurant and ended up leaving after 15 minutes because 1) the kitchen seemed very disorganized and 2) nobody even acknowledged our existence let alone seemed interested in taking our order.

The next place we considered had a horrendous line to order, and we did not see anybody at their tables with any actual food. Figuring the kitchen was having issues here, we went next door to a place that probably sells more sandwiches than anything else. Problem was, they were out of bread. Huh?

After finally just grabbing something that this last place did still have on hand, we had a somewhat rushed dinner so we could make it to the theater. Luckily, we managed to get a decent seat despite the packed theater. Of course, that just meant something else could go wrong.

In this case, it was the two kids sitting next to us. Seems they would have been better of just saving their money…probably spent more time talking than actually watching the movie. Not to mention the Gummy Bear war they were having.

Even so, the movie was worth watching.

I can’t believe that in less than a month my same sex salsa group will be giving it’s performance. Luckily, the routine has fallen into place nicely. We have basically learned all the choreography (aside from about 6 seconds for the ‘final pose’). Now we are just refining everything.

The biggest task left now seems to be the costumes. Four of us need to find shirts or jackets with big, flowing, multi-colored sleeves. May end up having them custom made.

Today Mike and I are getting some extra dance practice, although not with the upcoming routine. We are heading to El Rio for an afternoon of Salsa Dancing to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Hopefully it doesn’t get too crowded…otherwise it will be way to hard to actually dance.

I’m certainly not upset over the special election results. I really didn’t see any reason to be having a special election in the first place…other than a last ditch effor by the Governator to regain a bit of approval.

THE SPECIAL ELECTION / CALIFORNIANS SAY NO TO SCHWARZENEGGER / STATE MEASURES: Governor reaches out, doesn’t concede

Too bad all the money that went into organizing/running the election and campaigning for or against the propositions couldn’t have been spent somewhere important…like maybe putting it into education.

Mike and I are playing Tour Guide until Sunday. Not that I mind at all this time…my ‘baby brother’ is visiting. I haven’t actually seen him in at least 5-6 years. It’s certainly nice just being able to visit…even better since he doesn’t have a list of ‘must do’ items.

So far we have visitied Berkeley, The Haight and The Castro. Basically just a bunch of ‘window shopping’ that actually resulted in a few good purchases.

The only problem so far is that I am feeling OLD. Naturally, visiting a college town can have that effect. Even more so, my brother has grown up so much. He’s only 7 years younger, but for some reason I have always kept an image of him as being 11 years old — the age he was when I left for college. Hard to keep that image now considering he is now a husband and father. Plus, he will be turning 30 in another year. All in all, adds up to my being a bit older than I would like to admit.

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In the grand scheme of the universe and all, it is surely a minor point. Yet, I am still finding it to be highly annoying. Day after day, I am bombarded by a steady flow of folks attempting to hand me a flyer for insert super special event here, or a pamphlet explaining why insert cause here is utterly important.

All I can ever think of while this is going on is ‘how many trees did you all destroy so that we could all just throw away your crap?’ Of course, by ‘throw away’ seems to mean ‘drop on the ground’….which then brings up the entire rant about trashing the city and having just a little bit of respect for something.

Oh, and just for the record…I don’t have just a few minutes to answer a few simple questions. I didn’t have time yesterday, have none today and don’t forsee having it tomorrow. Most certainly not when your final simple question centers on how much money I can now contribute to saving whatever. Can I please just walk somplace for lunch without being mauled?

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